By Drew
As a postscript to this week's Virginia Tech shootings, you hear a lot about how this was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. It was not, however, the first to occur on a college campus. Charles Whitman was the sniper who, on August 1, 1966, killed 15 people from his perch atop the 27-story tower at the University of Texas.
Read here for more information about this equally bleak moment in American history. And if you get a moment, check out You Tube for KRLN-TV's disturbing live coverage of the shooting as it happened. (We'll try to provide a link for this later in the week.)
I believe that to this day that tower at UT-Austin is closed.
ReplyDeleteAbout ten years after that tragic event, there was a made for TV dramatization ("The Deadly Tower") about the event starring a young Hispanic actor who played a police officer, and Ned Beatty who played a civilian who climbed the tower to shoot Charles Whitman, the killer.
ReplyDeleteKurt Russell played Whitman.
I think that it was some of the best television that I have ever viewed.
Ray,
ReplyDeleteYes, as I understand both of the officers who were involved in the shooting of Whitman sued over that movie. I'm not sure why - perhaps they weren't consulted, or possibly it was over remuneration. I don't think they contested the essence of the story. I remember it as being quite good, also.
Drew